Tag Archive - New Orleans Hornets

Gustavo Ayon Gets Sequential

February 29, 2012 in by Danny Chau with 0 Comments

[flash http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABYnqp-bxvg]

Last night against the Chicago Bulls, New Orleans Hornets forward Gustavo Ayon did something pretty cool.

He had one assist, two steals, three blocks, four rebounds, and five points.

1-2-3-4-5.

Itâ€™s a nifty stat line; a testament to the type of yeomanâ€™s work Ayon does for the Hornets. With his sequential line, he stands among players who proudly own similar 1-2-3-4-5 stat lines like Vlade Divac, Ben Wallace, and Zydrunas Ilgauskasâ€”players beloved by fans for doing the little things to keep their team in the game.

While Ayon didnâ€™t have a particularly strong outing, his two field goals in the game came late in the fourth quarter, both game-tying baskets. Two of his three blocks came in crunch time; one as the Hornets mounted their late comeback, and the other as the Hornets were protecting their short-lived lead with less than two minutes left in the game.

His lone assist was a smart bounce pass out of the post, away from the reactive Bulls defenders, to a wide-open Trevor Ariza for a corner-3.

As far as 1-2-3-4-5 games go, since the 1985-86 season, only Danny Schayes has logged the same combination of points, rebounds, Â assists, steals, and blocks as Ayon. He did it in 1985.

Ayon is tied with a bunch of other players for most games with the 1-2-3-4-5 stat line. However, they all (probably) trail Jon â€œContractâ€ Koncak, the Hawksâ€™ 1985 draft bust and pariah, who has logged a 1-2-3-4-5 stat line on at least two occasions, in addition to playing in the same game where John Williams logged a 1-2-3-4-5 of his own. Not sure this achievement really makes up for his outrageous contract, though.

Iâ€™m getting sidetracked. Where was I? Oh, yeah. Gustavo Ayon did something pretty cool.

HP 2011-12 Season Preview: Of Chimps, Snakes, Caiman, and, Oh Yeah, New Orleans Hornets Too

December 22, 2011 in by Clint Peterson with 0 Comments

VETOED! How ya like them bananas. Via The Japing Ape

I can see clearly now, the rain is gone. The lockout has lifted, we have a season, can I get an Amen? (Amen.) And in the spirit of renewal, our shiny new cadre of writers is putting together previews for all 30 teams in true HP style. From where teams are going to what their disgrace is to explorations of pop culture, we are about to rock, salute us, can I get an Amen? (Amen.) So sit back, relax, and ponder the awesomeness of this fully operational Hardwood Paroxysm 3.0. -Ed.

Quo Vadimus (Where Are We Going?)

by Curtis Harris

â€œIt was the best of times, it was the BLURST of times?!â€

That pretty much sums up the state of the New Orleans Hornets. It certainly was the best of times. The NBA is currently being dominated by PGs in a way never seen before and the Hornets had the best of the bunch. Chris Paul orchestrates an offense beautifully and efficiently. Steve Nash can certainly conduct magnificent offenses, but his concertos are free-flowing and egalitarian. Paulâ€™s are dictatorial marches. Itâ€™s like Joseph Stalinâ€™s 5-Year Plans done a) competently and b) on the basketball court. But now CP3 is gone and New Orleans is picking up the pieces.

They are now in the BLURST of times. Things are too muddled and confused to be the worst. There was the week-long national crisis where David Stern held everyone hostage and Ted Koppel contemplated coming out of retirement to cover the circus. That particular situation was resolved and New Orleans obtained about as good a deal as possible, but the Sword of Sternicles hangs over the franchise still. Until an owner comes in and assumes control of the franchise, the situation will be BLURST.

But hope shines through, even during the darkest hour. Chris Kaman, Eric Gordon and Al-Farouq Aminu looked about as chipper as the newest inmates in Cell Block #9, but Gordonâ€™s a young stud and a certain building block toward contention. Aminu could turn into a serviceable starting SF. And Kaman is a gargantuan expiring contract that at worst just eases salary obligations at seasonâ€™s end or at best can be flipped for further young talent.

The rest of the roster is solid, if unremarkable, with Jarrett Jack and Emeka Okafor or just plain unremarkable: Marco Belinelli , Trevor Ariza, etc. If they play over their heads, this team can challenge for a playoff spot. If they play in their heads, theyâ€™re in the lottery top 10. If they play under (i.e. tank job), then theyâ€™re getting a top 5 pick.

And that may not be all that bad in this upcoming plump draft. The juiciest plum picked from the CP3 trade harvest is Minnesotaâ€™s draft pick in 2012. The Wolves will be improved but not enough to get that pick out of the top 5. So that could potentially be two top 5 picks in this draft that is supposedly stacked like a bad mama jama. If done right, this could be one of the quicker rebuilding jobs in recent NBA memory.

"Crockie!" A prescient pet nickname? Hmm...

Just hang on in there NOLA. The BLURST donâ€™t last forever.

Let’s Start A Cult About: Chris Kajun

by Clint Peterson

Was ever there another player more suited to a wilderness swampland than Chris Caiman…er, Kaman? He’s tailor-made to don some muckboots and a crossbow and go sloshing through Cajun country in search of bigger and better pet snakes and such.

Altogether now, let’s Google results for “crawfish boil.” He does realize that in Louisiana the prey bites back, doesn’t he?

If Chris Kajun somehow survives trading his convoy of monster trucks for air boats and swamp buggies, I fully expect his career to wrap up in Australia’s NBL. The BatManu gots nothin’ on Chris Kajun.

Â All we need now is a Dwayne Schintzius comeback so we can have that Joe Dirt-esque Chris Kajun reality show moment we all crave.

Author/Editor’s note: A few days after Chris tweeted about catching the snake I asked him what was going on with it. He said he’d released it back into the wild after it wouldn’t feed. So back off, PETA.

Popular Theories In Emerging Basketball-Cultural Cross-References

by Amin Vafa

Whoa. Wait. I thought we’d seen this already. A franchise player, frustrated with the direction of his team, asks to be traded to a contender–or even just a larger market. No really, I could have sworn I’d seen this before.

Via Cheezburger.com

Â Oooooooh yeeeeaaaaahhhh!

A Brief Video Interlude

by Clint Peterson

This team is so much fun that if it ever gets contracted David Stern is gonna know where one more of “the bodies are buried” are. Props, New Orleans, for reaching your goal of 10,000 season tickets sold. We got your back.

Setting Joey Straight

April 25, 2011 in by Rob Peterson with 0 Comments

Last night, as the New Orleans Hornets were trying to even their series with the Los Angeles Lakers, two tweets caught my eye. One came from the progenitor of this very site, Matt Moore (@HPBasketball):

BEST FIRST ROUND EVER!

The Knicks and their fans may disagree with that sentinment, but at least the Knicks put up a fight in the first two games in Boston. Amar’e Stoudemire’s balky back and the C’s typical stingy D made sure the Knicks didn’t get any strange ideas such as making a series of it.
It’s hard to argue with Mr. Moore’s sentiment, especially if you’re an NBA fan. The level of play has been consistently excellent. Combine that with the lack of clear cut favorite (the West’ No. 1 seed is down 2-1 and the No. 2 seed is tied at 2-2 and add to that, the drama of Kobe Bryant’s sprained ankle) and fans can now factor in the element of surprise. Or at least the prospect of it.

Which brings us to the other significant tweet of Sunday night from Sporting News columnist David Steele:

All the people back in March saying how college was better than the NBA went to bed early last night.

His tweet cuts to the heart of what the NBA and the NBA Playoffs truly are: a committment to basketball.

If you could get any light into the deep and dank basement of any blogger, you would see the dark circles under their eyes and the caffeinated beverage containers strewn across the floor. You’ll see 72 tabs open on Chrome, all to NBA sites and blogs. SportsCenter or NBA TV’s replays of “Inside the NBA” run on a constant loop on the flatscreen.

Why? Because compared to the NBA Playoffs, the NCAA tourney is a one-night stand.

After ignoring the college regular season, we as a nation come to the tourney looking to win the pool and not necessarily for the best basketball. You spritz the Binaca to cover the smell of Keystone Light, you mat down the cowlick with saliva and you try to slur your best lines in order to pick a national champion. If your pool drains before the end of the tourney, that’s just the nature of the amateur beast. These are kids, we’re told, after all and anything can happen. That’s what makes it exciting: the surprises.

Or that’s what college basketball defenders (usually playing a not-so-taxing 2-3 zone) want you to think. Even the little guys have a chance to win.

They may have a chance, but they don’t win, especially when you consider the lowest seed ever to win an NCAA title was a No. 8 Villanova team in 1985. A team from the Big East, beating another team, Georgetown, from the Big East. Milan (Ind.) High that ain’t.

Often the NBA Playoffs lack surprises or monumental upsets, but that familiarity may the most interesting thing about the NBA Playoffs. They’re like a relationships in that they ebb and flow, in that they take work and in that, yes, at times it can become a grind.

Yet in the end, we often get the best two teams playing each other for the Larry O’Brien trophy in June. Consider what many consider the NBA’s “Golden Age” in the 1980s. The Celtics and the Lakers met three times while the two teams snapped up 13 of the 20 Finals appearances.

Just look what happens when you get an “upset” in the NBA? You get the Cavs’ getting swept by the Spurs in the 2007 Finals. That was fun only for the Spurs.

Conventional wisdom tells us that experience — both the Spurs and Lakers have it in bunches — and talent — ditto — that the Memphis Grizzlies and New Orleans Hornets will regress to the mean and that hustle and heart can only take a team so far. Because when a talented team recognizes their passion (i.e. “flipping the switch), the less talented team often is all but making tee times. That’s not to say it wouldn’t be wonderful for the Grizzlies or the Hornets to advance to the Western Conference semis.

Thanks to days off between games, weaknesses get exposed and exploited by better teams. The proper preparation of talent will often bear itself out and after two months of playoff basketball, you know you’re getting the two finest teams in The Finals. There’s something comforting and compelling in that you will be witnessing excellence. It may not always be a great series, but you can take solace in the fact these teams have earned the chance to be playing in June.

Even if you don’t or can’t root for the final two teams, at least your mind can reconcile with your heart that, yes, this is the correct conclusion, that, yes, this is the most appropriate place for this journey to end and that, yes, this is the best spot for our passion for and committment to basketball to bloom.

After all, that’s not too much to ask from the thing you love.

Assisting Darren Collison’s Assists

March 9, 2010 in by Zach Harper with 32 Comments

â€œDarren Collison. 16 points. They have him with 20 assists tonightâ€¦ And this is a Hornetâ€™s rookie record of 20 assists. Iâ€™m going to say this politely. They need to watch the video of this game because Darren Collison has about 13 assists in the game, not 20. The person keeping assists tonight is a little unclear on the rule. Youâ€™ve had balls thrown in and then guys making moves then scoring and still an assist will be credited. Thatâ€™s up for the league to look at, eventually.â€

This was a quote by Bob Fitzgerald towards the end of the Hornets victory over the Warriors Monday night. Bob Fitzgerald is the Warriors play-by-play man. When I was watching the game and saw the stat, it didnâ€™t really seem correct to me either. I guessed that Collison might have around 15 assists. To hear 20 was sort of alarming.

Weâ€™ve heard about issues in the past with Nick Van Exel in Denver or what’s been assumed with Chris Paul in New Orleans in terms of his stats being inflated for the hopes of ending up on SportsCenter because of pretty round numbers. Well, 20 assists for someone that the Hornets are desperately hoping takes away some Rookie of the Year recognition from Tyreke Evans with his half of a seasonâ€™s worth of brilliance is quite the round number to make people notice.

Since Fitz wanted someone to check out the video tape and see if 20 was a legit number for Collison tonight, I decided to cue up the old League Pass Broadband and go over each registered assist for Collison.

For clarification, weâ€™re going by the generally accepted definition of an assist:

â€œIn basketball, an assist is attributed to a player who passes the ball to a teammate in a way that leads to a score by field goal, meaning that he or she was “assisting” in the basket.â€

Here is a break down of each assist credited to Darren Collison with my description of the play and the verdict of whether or not it should be an assist.

Assist 1: Fast-break pass to Morris Peterson on the wing for three
The first score of the game by the Hornets happened off a turnover in which Collison intercepted a horrible pass, took it the other way and threw a pass to Mo Pete on the wing that was offline too. Mo controlled the pass with a bounce, gathered himself and shot the three. Verdict: Valid Assist

Assist 2: Transition three by Morris Peterson
Collison quickly jogs the ball up the floor and finds Morris Peterson running with him all alone. He throws a quick pass to Mo Pete on the left wing again and Peterson rises up for his second three in as many attempts. Verdict: Valid Assist

Assist 3: Pass to Peja Stojakovic in the mid-post for a jumper
This is the first questionable one of the night for Collison. He dribbles up the right side where Peja has his defender in the post around 16 feet from the basket. Collison passes to Peja who isnâ€™t even looking at the basket. Heâ€™s not really facing it so much as heâ€™s facing the scorerâ€™s table. He turns and takes a big jab step towards the baseline. When the defender recovers because he realizes he isnâ€™t going anywhere, Peja makes one more small jab step and then fires up the jumper. I find it hard to believe that this pass led to the score in the spirit of the definition of an assist. Verdict: Invalid Assist

Assist 4: Alley-oop to Emeka Okafor
Completely legit here. Itâ€™s a lob into the center of the key, which Okafor catches and dunks in one motion. I like to call it the â€˜ole alley-oop. Itâ€™s catchy (pun intended). Verdict: Valid Assist

Assist 5: Morris Peterson three in the right corner
Collison gets the ball into the post on the left side of the floor. After the pass to West down low, he cuts into the middle of the lane. He catches the pass from West and the defense collapses to the middle. He kicks out to the right corner where Peterson catches and fires the three. Verdict: Valid Assist

Assist 6: Pass to West inside for a basket
Collison and Okafor run a pick-and-roll on the right side of the floor. Collison drives towards the middle, jumps in the air and then passes to a cutting David West on the baseline. West catches the ball and puts it up in one motion for an easy score. Verdict: Valid Assist

Assist 7: Pass inside to Okafor for a turnaround basket
In a pseudo-transition opportunity, Collison dribbles down the middle of the court and finds Okafor with good position in the paint around 10 feet from the basket. He dumps it into Okafor who takes a dribble while he fakes back to the middle of the lane with his right foot and then turns and gets fouled on a turnaround jumper that goes in. This one is kind of sketchy because by the rule he doesnâ€™t really make a move toward the basket at first. But in the spirit of the rule, I think itâ€™s a good assist call. Verdict: Valid Assist

Assist 8: Pass inside to Okafor for the dunk
Collison runs a pick play with Songaila on the left side of the floor. As he dribbles towards the middle, he finds Okafor in the center of the key, right in front of the basket. He quickly drops the ball into Okafor, who makes a strong drop-step to the basket and dunks it home immediately. Verdict: Valid Assist

Assist 9: Pass to Thornton off the screen for a jumper
Collison dribbles the ball on the right wing above the three-point line as Marcus Thornton comes off a screen on the baseline to the same side of the floor. Thornton pump fakes then dribbles the ball to his right before pulling up for a jumper. Thereâ€™s no way this should count as an assist. The score was completely created off of Thorntonâ€™s fake and then dribble to free himself up for the shot. Verdict: Invalid Assist

Assist 10: Pass to Julian Wright in the Post who scores a layup
I will admit that so far, the majority of the assists are completely legit. However, this one is pretty egregious. Collison dribbles up the right side of the floor and finds Julian Wright in the post about 12 feet away from the basket. Wright catches the ball, faces up to his defender and then dribbles towards the baseline. He spins back into the lane before laying it up. This is in NO WAY an assist. This shouldnâ€™t even be close. He took two dribbles and about five steps total after catching the ball with his back to the basket to begin with. Iâ€™m starting to think the league should have a team of guys to verify stats after the game. Verdict: Invalid Assist

Assist 11: Transition pass to Thornton on the right wing for a three
This is an easy one to call. Collison gets the pass in the backcourt from David West off the rebound and pushes it up the floor. He finds Thornton on the right wing, who catches the pass with one foot inside the three-point line. Without a dribble or hesitation, he slowly gathers himself behind the line and drains the three. Verdict: Valid Assist

Assist 12: Dribble handoff for the Peja three-pointer
Collison dribbled this one on the left side of the court just inside the three-point line as Peja curled behind him from the baseline. Collison dropped it off to Peja for the quick three. Verdict: Valid Assist

Assist 13: Pass into the mid-post for a Peja layup
Collison pushes the ball up the court after a Curry missed floater. He finds Peja in the post on the left side. Peja catches the ball and squares up. He jabs towards the baseline and back to the middle twice before taking it into the middle and making the layup. Five seconds and two dribbles after Peja catches the pass, he scores a layup and somehow Darren Collison gets an assist. This is inexplicable. Verdict: Invalid Assist

Assist 14: Pass to the right side for a Peterson three
Off a broken and wild play in which Collison saves the ball on the opposite end of the court, he brings the ball back up the middle of the floor, draws a double team as Morris Peterson sneaks to the right perimeter. Collison finds Mo Pete for a three on the right side. Verdict: Valid Assist

Assist 15: Alley-oop pass to Emeka Okafor for the dunk
Pick-and-roll play at the top of the key for Collison and Okafor that results in Collison drawing both defenders and Emeka rolling unabated to the basket. Collison throws a perfect lob and Emeka dunks it home. Verdict: Valid Assist

Assist 16: Transition pass to Peja for the layup
Collison pushes the tempo once again and catches the Warriors defense slow to set up or even react. He dribbles up the middle of the floor and find Peja right under the basket. Peja catches the ball and goes right up for the little reverse layup. Verdict: Valid Assist

Assist 17: Pass to Okafor in the middle of the key for the short runner
With the shot clock running down, Collison dribbles down the right side of the lane and kicks it back to a cutting Okafor in the middle of the paint. He catches and puts up a quick little runner. Verdict: Valid Assist

Assist 18: Pass to David West on the baseline for the step-back jumper
Collison dribbles from the right wing over the top of the three-point line towards the middle of the floor. As he drives into the foul line area, he passes off to David West who is fading towards the baseline from where Collison just was. West doesnâ€™t catch the ball cleanly and by the time he corrals it, he shoots the jumper from the baseline. Even though the catch wasnâ€™t clean, the pass clearly led him into that shot. Verdict: Valid Assist

Assist 19: Handoff pass to James Posey for the three
After a steal by Thornton, Collison catches the ball in the frontcourt on the right side of the floor. He has James Posey trailing right behind him and circling back to the three-point line. Collison takes the pass and dumps it off to Posey for the immediate three. Verdict: Valid Assist

Assist 20: Pass on the fast-break to Thornton for the layup
After the Curry turnover, Collison pushes the ball up the right side of the floor in a two-on-one fast-break with Marcus Thornton. Once he gets the defender to commit to his side, Collison shoots a pass across the lane to a streaking Thornton who lays it up on the right side of the hoop. Verdict: Valid Assist

Overall, itâ€™s not quite as bad as Bob Fitzgerald made it out to be. There was one questionable assist, four assists that shouldnâ€™t have counted and ultimately, 16 assists that Iâ€™m fine with Collison having. Did he ACTUALLY set the rookie record for the Hornets with 20 assists? Technically, he did. In reality, he didnâ€™t.

Either way, it brings up the question of whether or not the league does need to monitor this. They go back and look at the tape for flagrant and technical fouls. For anything close that wasnâ€™t called and actually should have been a flagrant or technical, they can reverse it.

So why not have a dedicated team of video watchers for each night to verify the game scorerâ€™s findings? It doesnâ€™t take much. If weâ€™re going to base awards and All-Star appearances off of numbers, shouldnâ€™t we be absolutely sure that those numbers are legit?

Guest Post: Should The Hornets Go Full-Tilt?

December 18, 2009 in by Matt Moore with 10 Comments

Michael Pina is a contributing writer for the Hoop Doctors, the Huffington Post, and Hoops Addict. He’s here today to ask the question of if the Hornets should bite the bullet and go all-in on a change-up.

Itâ€™s not that bad. Really it isnâ€™t. Yes thereâ€™s the losing record, the fact that through the first two months there was a Henry Hudson-esque mutiny towards Byron Scott and a threatening ankle injury for the franchise point guard. Add in a recent bludgeoning by the Knicks that saw Chris Duhon do his best proctologist impersonation (six threes from a 30% shooter) and still things could be worse. Much, much worse.

The seasonâ€™s still in its prepubescent stage. Chris Paul is back, says heâ€™s healthy and is conducting his troops like the future Springfield bust that he is. At their house, aka The Hive, New Orleans is 8-3; giving up nine fewer points per contest than when theyâ€™re on the road.

As long as the aforementioned Paul is in a Nola uniform, theyâ€™ll be competitive. Itâ€™s clear Scottâ€™s inconsistencies were wearing thin on the team and the shakeup should prove beneficial, but none of this necessarily means theyâ€™re a championship contender. What we do know is they wonâ€™t quit as some accused them of doing in last yearâ€™s postseason.

So right now who are the Hornets? Theyâ€™re a financially strapped bunch thatâ€™s a lot older than you think. 32-year-old Peja Stojakovic can still snipe with the best of them but defensively he looks, to put it nicely, God awful. Both him and David West are regressing (Westâ€™s currently putting up 15.7 points per contest which is his lowest since 2004-05).

Their recent draft picks have been on a Rodney White level of discouraging and havenâ€™t performed anywhere near up to par. (Julian Wright and Hilton Armstrong have yet to tie their shoes correctly.)

Regardless they still have some nice pieces. Most notably Chris Paul who controls NBA games better than you do with an Xbox controller.

James Posey, who is either the leagues most overrated or underrated sixth man depending on your expectations, continues his relentless defensive intensity, on floor leadership and three-point accuracy that got him his mildly unrealistic four-year $25 million dollar deal.

22-year-old Chris-Weinke-ancient rookies Darren Collison and Marcus Thornton have been playing pretty solid, specifically Thornton. Like a sorority girl eyeing a lonely bottle of mango flavored vodka, the Hornets were familiar with the Baton Rouge native and aggressively pursued.

For a second lets look at the team realistically and not through Bud Foxâ€™s eyes. This means treating 2007-08 like an aberration instead of a progressive step towards the leagueâ€™s elite that some stubbornly still believe.

In order to seriously compete, Nolaâ€™s got to wheel and deal. A blockbuster, division shake-up type move.

Hereâ€™s an idea. Take Stojakovic and West, two players who are closer to the mountainâ€™s summit than its base, throw in Julian Wright and send them to Toronto for the stupendous Chris Bosh, Rasho Nesterovic and Reggie Evans. With Toronto playing unsatisfactorily so far this season, the probability of re-signing Bosh is decreasing by the day. Itâ€™d make sense from the Raptors standpoint to, at the least, grab two former all-stars for him. From Nolaâ€™s perspective, theyâ€™d be adding one of the best players in the league for the rest of the year. Should they choose to do so, the Hornets could then build around a Paul/Bosh nucleus that would vie for a championship these next few years.

If no trade goes down, thereâ€™s still one shining light to look at. While Paul was out with his ankle injury the team stayed afloat, going 4-4. Theyâ€™re still in contention to make the postseason but expectations should be tempered. This isnâ€™t three years ago and Tyson Chandler isnâ€™t walking through that door.

15 Footer 12.11.09

December 11, 2009 in by Matt Moore with 6 Comments

Happy Friday Parox-Readers. As a reminder, Christmas is right around the corner! So be sure to be thinking of ways you can ditch your family so you can watch the seven hundred games the NBA schedules on the holiest of days.

Let’s see what’s on tap, shall we?

REASONS TO WATCH THE GAMES OF THE NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION TONIGHT:

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REASONS TO WATCH THE GAMES OF THE NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION TONIGHT:

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